Every word Marina uttered about the past events between Mia, Christopher, Amelia, and Sarah landed like bombshells on all the women of the Velmora family present in that alternate-space room.
Mia was so appalled at herself that she had no words left.
She had no memory of beating Lucifer half to death.
She had no memory of holding him, of cradling him in her arms.
Now, when she racked her brain trying to recall anything — anything at all — about Lucifer's childhood… everything was ghostly white.
Blank.
She had no memories of him as a child.
She couldn't even remember if she had ever held him.
This revelation wasn't just devastating for Mia — it crushed Amelia too.
Both of them had only fragments, mosaics of memories — nothing clear, nothing whole.
They only knew he was their brother and son.
Everything else about him was lost.
Completely.
Not a single childhood memory.
Nothing.
Zero.
Mia suddenly turned toward Wisteria, voice trembling uncontrollably:
"W-Weste… Wisteria… D-Did… Did I… really… beat… Luc… Luci…?
Is… is she… telling the truth?"
Mia's eyes were full of tears.
Her voice cracked and shook.
She felt like someone was wrenching her heart out with bare hands — slow, agonizing, merciless.
But Wisteria didn't answer.
She only looked at Mia with deep, unreadable meaning in her eyes.
For Wisteria, that day's memory was as vivid as yesterday.
She remembered everything — every hardship Lucifer had ever faced.
Back in Evorywood, she had often wondered why the young master's health kept deteriorating again and again.
She had taken him to the Church of Life branch countless times to get healed.
But never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that her young master was being poisoned.
And by his own father.
Just like Mia and Amelia, Wisteria's silence was the confirmation they both dreaded.
Amelia still clung to a shred of hope and looked toward Wisteria with pleading eyes.
But to her shock, Wisteria simply turned around and left them alone.
She couldn't bear to stay there another second.
She needed to be with Lucifer now — to comfort him, to make him feel safe, just like she had embraced him in his childhood.
She didn't lack the strength to kill Derek — she had more than enough.
But if she remained even one more moment in that room, she would definitely strangle the life out of him with her own hands.
Even though Wisteria had been Lucifer's maid, in those early years — in his childhood — he had treated her like a precious member of his family.
The only family he had.
A family that consisted of just him… and rough sketches of Mia, Amelia, and Sarah.
Slowly, over time, those portraits faded and got lost.
Only Wisteria remained by his side.
Just beside Mia, Ruby had heard every word of the conversation.
Her eyes were blood-red.
She had never felt this much rage in her entire life.
Back in Evorywood, Ruby had frequent encounters with Lucifer.
He was a silent child.
He only talked to Jason.
Helped him with his work.
Taught him magic.
Protected him whenever he was in danger.
But Ruby had never once seen him smile.
His eyes were like the eyes of a dead man — empty, hopeless.
Lucifer never once tried to lay a hand on her.
Even when Jason often had intercourse with her right in front of him.
She never saw him speak to others.
Whenever she mentioned Mia, he would listen attentively — but she never saw him with any of his family members… not until the last six or seven months.
She had often felt like he was living as if he were already dead.
But now she understood — he hadn't always been like that.
Circumstances had stolen every last drop of his happiness.
A child ignored by his parents.
A child poisoned again and again by his own father.
A child who knew he had parents and a family… but that same family didn't recognize him.
He was utterly alone in the world.
Was it his crime to be born?
Ruby realized she couldn't even fully blame Mia — because Mia had been a victim too.
Manipulated by Christopher from the very beginning.
Isolde, Veronica, Silva, and Selene had no words.
How… how had he survived?
How much pain had he endured — physically and mentally?
Sixteen years.
Sixteen years of poisoning.
Was Lucifer born into a family… or into hell?
Sixteen years of neglect.
And still he placed his mother and sister above heaven itself.
What kind of love was that?
What kind of magnanimity?
The mood in the room was already solemn beyond measure when Derek spoke again:
"Well, Mia and Amelia… both of you… stop this petty drama.
See, it's fine — he's still alive even after mine and Christopher's endless efforts to take him down.
Now it's confirmed that both of you really have no memory of Lucifer's childhood.
So what's the point of all this crying?
And I'm really saying — if he had really died that day and no one had been there to tell you Lucifer was dead… then neither you nor Amelia would have even bothered to check on him."
"So what's the point of all this?"
Amelia — who had been silent until now — barked at him:
"Bastard… I get it. You were angry at him and wanted revenge for your son. You hated Lucifer.
But when he was a toddler — just two or three years old — he hadn't harmed you or Jacob at all.
Then why did you make plans to kill him?"
Derek smiled and answered:
"You see… Marina already told you we were financially weak back then.
So we wanted money. And he offered us… not a small amount."
"Twenty thousand golds."
"So tell me… if killing a toddler can get us that much money… then why not get our hands a little dirty?"
"You tell me — is birthing a kid more fortunate… or getting twenty thousand golds?"
Listening to Derek's reasoning, Amelia was on the verge of going berserk.
But Mia… she had already gone berserk.
She lunged forward and grabbed Derek's throat with both hands, choking him with all her strength.
She didn't know if she was powerful enough — but right now, in front of her, Derek was her mortal enemy.
Her grip was so tight that his face began turning blue.
But as she squeezed harder… suddenly Gracy's Vritra manifested from Mia's shadow and restrained her hands.
Mia was so furious she was fuming — struggling with all her might to shake off Vritra's grip… but she failed.
Seizing the moment while Vritra held Mia back, Amelia kicked Derek hard.
He was already struggling to breathe from the choking — the kick made him lose balance and he fell to the ground.
Ruby — who had been standing beside Amelia — jumped on the fallen Derek and started choking him again.
Derek, barely recovering his breath, began struggling desperately under Ruby's assault.
This time Lovertia and Lucelith appeared and restrained her.
Lovertia spoke in a stern tone to Ruby:
"Grandma Ruby, you are not allowed to kill him — nor anyone present here."
Then she turned to Gracy:
"Gracy, take Grandma Mia to her room — and take the others as well."
To Veronica:
"Mother Veronica… please go and sleep. You are bearing my little sister in your womb.
If you don't care about yourself, at least care about her. Go get some rest — in the morning you have to depart for the kingdom."
To Amelia:
"Mother Amelia… please take all the mothers back to Grandma Mia's or Grandma Ruby's room."
To Lucelith:
"Lucelith… feed them the pills. Rip their clothes — Dad has ordered not to harm his wife and daughter since both are bearing children…"
Then Lovertia took out a magic crystal ball from her space storage and passed it to Lucelith:
"Take this. It's my order.
Call Almirae and torture them both.
Torture them until they forget their own names.
But the time limit is noon.
Record the entire process of torturing Derek and Jacob.
Torture them… then heal them… and torture again.
At noon, heal them one final time.
After that, feed them another dose of pills.
After noon, thousands of people will be waiting for them… we can't let our prostitutes be a bloody mess."
After saying this, Lovertia and Gracy escorted all the women back to Mia's room.